Bekim Çollaku was Minister of European Integration of Kosovo. He previously served as the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of Kosovo

Hashim Thaçi Hashim Thaçi (; born 24 April 1968) is a Kosovar Albanian politician who was the president of Kosovo from April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020 to face a war crimes tribunal. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo and the For ...

between 2007 and 2014. Prior to joining the Cabinet of Prime Minister Thaçi, he worked as Assistant Lecturer at Prishtina University, Department of Political Sciences and as a researcher in the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development. Çollaku was a member of the Kosovo negotiating team in the EU facilitated Political Dialogue for Normalization of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia between 2011 and 2014. He served as Political Advisor to the first elected Kosovo Prime Minister

Bajram Rexhepi Bajram Rexhepi (3 June 1954 – 21 August 2017), was a Kosovar politician who served as the first elected post-war prime minister and later as interior minister of Kosovo and as a member of the Kosovo Assembly. He was a member of the second larges ...

between 2003 and 2004. Bekim Çollaku is a member of the

Democratic Party of Kosovo The Democratic Party of Kosovo ( sq, Partia Demokratike e Kosovës; abbr. ''PDK'') is one of the largest political parties in Kosovo. It was originally a social-democratic party coming out of the demilitarised Kosovo Liberation Army after th ...

(Albanian: Partia Demokratike e Kosovës – PDK). In his position as the Minister of European Integration Çollaku played the role of Kosovo's chief negotiator in the negotiations between the European Commission and Kosovo for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement. After the approval of the SAA by the Council of the European Union on 22 October 2015 in Luxembourg, Çollaku co-signed the SAA on behalf of Kosovo at the Office of the High Representative Federica Mogherini at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 27 October 2015.

Education

Bekim Çollaku holds a master's degree in International Studies obtained at the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick univer ...

in United Kingdom and currently is a PhD candidate in Political Science at

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

, Belgium. His academic background is in the field of International Relations, with a particular focus on the European Union’s foreign policy (CFSP/CSDP).

Personal life

Bekim Çollaku is married to Aferdita Çollaku and has two children.

Publications

*''Ethnic Centralization and the Perils of Confusing Solutions''. KIPRED discussion paper, 2007 *''Kosovo’s Capacity for EU Integration : Don’t let the grass grow under your feet!''. KIPRED policy brief, 2006 * ''A just finial settlement for Kosovo is imperative for the peace and stability in Balkans''. MA Thesis, University of Newcastle, 2003MA Thesis Çollaku, 2003
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collaku, Bekim Kosovan politicians Living people Government ministers of Kosovo Year of birth missing (living people)